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🤙🏿 Welcome back to the Better Than Points Newsletter - the premier place for all things Credit Card Points News and Travel

My name’s Luis and I’m the one writing this (hit me up here!)

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone celebrating! 🦃

I hope you didn’t fill up too much on turkey because I’ve got some tasty points and travel news for you this week, it's time to snap out of that food coma.

Honestly, the idea of cooking an entire Thanksgiving meal this year felt exhausting, so we ended up going out and ordering Chinese instead.

Did anyone else ditch the kitchen and do something different this year? 🥡

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A Message from Thrifty Traveler

“Finding Award Flights Just Got Easier” (Let The Experts Do The Hard Work For You)✈️

Stop wasting hours searching for award flights—get the best deals sent straight to your inbox with Thrifty Traveler.

Here’s what you’ll get:

• Award alerts: Be the first to know about cheap flights and business class deals

• Domestic & international: From weekend getaways to bucket-list trips

• Miles maximized: Exclusive tips to stretch your points further

• Unicorn deals: Rare finds that don’t usually show up

• Exclusive discount: New subscribers get 50% off their first year of Thrifty Traveler Premium

50% discount shows at checkout when you click “Join Premium”

👉 Sign up now to unlock unbeatable travel deals.

🗞️ Travel News

40% Chase to Virgin Transfer bonus ending soon (LINK)

Surprisingly, Virgin switching to dynamic pricing for flights hasn’t sucked so much, though some award booking rates have been crazy high.

That said, if you’re eyeing a trip to Europe and have Chase Ultimate Rewards points to burn, consider transferring them to Virgin Atlantic before the 40% bonus expires on Saturday, November 30th.

I wrote a post on how to find the cheapest rates, which are typically around 6,000 points for economy and 29,000 for Upper Class. With the bonus, they’re an absolute steal!

Just make sure to find availability before transferring your Chase points over to Virgin.

The last thing you want is to have your points stranded in your Virgin Atlantic account like a humpback whale beached on the shore. 🐋 Nobody needs that kind of stress!

Emirates Unveils First A350 (LINK) 

I’ll keep this one short. Emirates, one of the best airlines for business and first class, just took delivery of their first Airbus A350-900.

We were all hoping they’d unveil an exciting new business class—but nope.

While there were some updates, the reveal was pretty underwhelming.

What stings even more? Emirates has 65 of these planes on order, with deliveries stretching out until 2028.

While other top airlines are innovating and evolving, Emirates seems to know they’re on top and don’t feel the need to try harder. Kind of a letdown, right?

Etihad Adds 10 New Routes (LINK)

Now onto a story with a better ending. Etihad just announced 10 new routes, but the one you’ll probably care about most is the 4-times-a-week Atlanta to Abu Dhabi route.

They’ll be flying their Airbus A350-1000 on this route, which doesn’t have first-class seats but does offer 44 solid business-class seats.

While it’s not really bookable with points yet, either through their own website or partners. But don’t worry, you know I’ll keep you posted the moment you can. 😏

[Deal Alert] Lots of last minute Business class deals to Europe (LINK)

Last-minute availability just popped up for Star Alliance airlines like Austrian, Lufthansa, United, Swiss, and more for travel between December 2024 and April 2025.

Redemptions start as low as 60k points through Air Canada.

I’ll highlight some of these in the Flights of the Week section

🤓 Hacks

• If you’re searching for Virgin Atlantic reward flights, start with the Virgin Atlantic Reward Seat Checker. It lets you view the entire month’s calendar at a glance, making it easier to spot availability. Once you find the dates you want, head over to the Virgin Atlantic site to book.

• When booking tickets, consider booking one-way flights instead of round trips. It’s much easier to cancel or change a one-way ticket than trying to rebook an entire round-trip itinerary.

🧑🏿‍💻 Question From You

Every week I answer one question from the community. Reply to this email with yours because you’re probably not the only one that has it.

Question

Bill asked what are some of the best ways to use 700k Amex Membership Rewards points for international airfare.

If you’re looking to use the least amount of miles and don’t mind paying a bit more in taxes and fees, Virgin Atlantic is a great option, with business class bookable for as low as 21k miles one way when transfer bonuses are available.

For other solid options:

Flying Blue (Air France/KLM): Rates start at 50k miles one way from both the East and West Coast.

Air Canada Aeroplan: Offers rates as low as 60k miles one way for international business class.

All three programs are American Express transfer partners, so you can transfer your points directly to book. These options give you flexibility and excellent value for your miles!

P.S. You can also join Better Than Points Pro where I can help book and find those flights for you.

🔬 Secret Travel Research

This section includes some of the best award flights of the week bookable with points and miles.

• Some Unique ones like Etihad out of BOS, JFK and MIA showed up

• Emirates First Class is available EWR to ATH, First class for 102,000 points

• 2/20, 2/21, 2/24, 2/26, 3/2, 3/3, 3/5, 3/9, 3/12, 3/17-20, 3/22-25, 3/30, 3/31, 4/6, 4/12

👀 My Favorite Finds

This section includes some of the best links videos and articles of the week around the points and travel community

• Here’s why planes follow this invisible path Across the Atlantic (LINK)

• Allegiant Air announces 44 new route expansions (LINK)

• Get $40 when you spend $40 through Rakuten (LINK)

• These newsletters are changing the game (LINK)

• Black Friday flight deals (LINK)

• If you’re in the points/travel space and are hiring, hit me up here